Permutation locking mechanism



ApfilS, 1924;

J. PFEIFER PERMUTATI-ON LOCKING MECHANISM ol i -inal Filed May 5, 1 19 2Sheets-Sheet. 1

J. PFElFER PERMUTATION LOCKING MECHANISM April 8, 1924.

i nal Filed y 1919 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 'abtmm Patented Apr. 8, 1924.

UNITED STATES 1,489,333 PATENT oFF ca.

JOHN PFEIFER, OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE SPRINGFIELD AUTOLOCK COMPANY, OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF QHIO. I

PEBMUTATION LOCKING MECHANISM.

Original application filed May 5, 1919. Serial No. 294,809. Divided andthis application filed July 21,

1920. Serial No. 397,938. 1

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN Prnrrnn, a citizen of the United States,residing at Springfield, in the county of Clark and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Permutation LockingMechanisms, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to permutation locking mechanism, it moreparticularly relating to a mechanism of the kind referred to which maybe combined with a suitable support for the purpose of locking thesteering wheel of an automobile; this application being a division of mypending apple cation Ser. No. 294,809 filed May 5th, 1919.

The object of the invention is to provide a locking mechanism for thepurpose referred to which will be simple and compact in construction andeffective in operation.

A further and more specific object is to provide an arrangement wherebythe mechanism may be readily set to and stopped at zero and as readily'set to the unlocking position of the parts without the necessity ofvisual inspection upon the Part of the operator. A further object of myinvention is to provide means to prevent the unlocking of the mechanismwithout employment of the proper combination required for that purose. y

Further objects of the invention will appear from the. accompanyingdescription and drawings. i i

In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is a top plan view of aportion ofthe steering wheel of an automobile, showing my improved lockingmechanism, to ether with the support applied thereto.

ig. 2 is a side View of the same partly broken away and shown insection.

Fig. 3 is an end view of the locking bolt. Fig. 4 is a side view of thebolt. Fig. 5 is-a view of the rear side of apertion of the bolt. i Fig.6 is a'top :plan view of one of'the members of the locking mechanism.

Fig. 7 is a top plan view of a portion of the same member with theinner. locking ring removed. H

. Fig. 8.is a vertical section of the, part shown in Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 1s a vertical section of severalelements of the locking mechanismshowing the parts in unlocked position.

Fig. 10 is atop plan view of one of the inner locking means.

Fig. 11 is a vertical section of the same. Fig. 12 is an enlargedsectional view of the locking sleeves and rings with the locking bolt inposition therein, the upper and resent two -members of .a clamp,semi-cyr lindrical in shape so as to conform to the contour of thesteering post 3 (shown in dotted lines) of the steering wheel 4L of amotor vehicle; the meeting edges of the two clamping members beingshouldered as indicated in Fig. 2iso as to overlap to form at protectingwall for the securing devices for the same, to bedescribed. The member 2has forwardly-extending top and bottom flanges 2 formed integrallytherewith and these :top and bottom flanges have centrally arrangedintegrally formed apertured ears 2". Extending through the walls of theclamparescrews 5 which secure the (two members of the clampfirmlytogether about the post.

ing member v2 intothe clamping member 1 4 plate being of a U-form' so asto provide I sides 6, which fit against the sides of the walls of theclamping member 2;which are recessed-for the purpose of receiving theseScrewsv 6" .eXtendingthrough the I cover .6 intohtlie walls of :themember 2' hold the cover inpositioiiibut.other means are also'providedfor preventing the removal of this cover andiobtainingaccess to thescrews 5' which'will be hereinafter explained in connectionwith thepermutation locking mechanism.

A lockingbolt 'z isslidably mounted. in

the apertured ears 2*. About this bolt and between theears arelockingdevices for the same." These locking devices consist of a. 'ser1esofouter sleeves 8, three in number in -the present case, each providedwith an inner ring-9.. Each sleeve ,8 is provided ,withequally spacedindications from O to 9 .as shown. andv between, each indication is avertical groove l0,'these rounded grooves in Figs. 6 and? so as toco-operate with the extreme ends of the chcker arms and act as stopsfor, the sleeves, so that the sleeves may be turnedback and stopped atzero for the purpose of finding the combination by observing the numberof clicks.

Each sleeve 8' has an integrally 'formed inner flange 12" at its lowerendprovided with a seriesofequally spaced vertical openings 13, thepresent "case twenty of these openings being'provided." In the two uppersleeves this flange projects below the lower edgethereo'f, asshown inFigs. 8;:9 and 12, so as to telescope with the under sleeve. Each of therings 9 is fitted to the interior ofits corresponding:sleeve 8,"restinguponthe flange 12; In the upper sleeve 8 this ring may-be of a lengthequal to the distance between the upper end of the sleeve 8 and itsflange 12, but in the intermediate and lower sleeves the ring is shorterso as to accommodate the flange: of the sleeve immediately above it.Each ring 9 has a downwardly-extending pin "14 so positioned that whenthe-ring is inserted in'its sleeve the pin will be caused to enter-anyoneof the openings 13 so -as to hold the ring in fixed relation withthesleeve so far as revoluble movement is concerned. "Each ring 9 alsohas diametrically opposite the pin, a vertically-extendinginterior slot15. The extreme upper portion of the'upper ring is formed with anenlarged bore as indicated at 9, so that the upper edge thereof maystand flush with the upper edge' of its sleeve .8 so'that when thesleeves and rings are in assembled position betweenthe ears 2", theywill beheld against any'vertical displacement this bonstruction leavingthe grooved portion of said upper ring of the same size as that ofthe'two other rings for a purpose to be explained.

The locking bolt v7 is provided with a ri s of ee r tei eti n 6, n tpresentrcase 5 innumberfand alsofat. the upper and lower ends with ribsl8 and'l9'in alignment with the projections, the; ends 'of theprojections and ribs beingbeveledasshown. Each of the ears 9 has -a;vertica lfslot 2 cut in the inner bore of the aperture therethrough,these. groovesbeing alV in the Pre ent wis i i 'l'iq nt ansve e es [othem 1. a e we'eni he refine. adjacent! qrojecti'onsiand also between"the pwi es s are w rj h ye than the width of the intermediate and lowerrings and of the grooved portion of the upper ring. When the parts arein assembled position and the grooves 15 are in'alignment with eachother, as shown in Fig. 9, and also with the ribs and projections on thebolt, the bolt may be moved "vertically to or from locking position; the

bolt being extended between two of the spokes of the steering wheel tolock the same. To lock the bolt the sleeves 8 are turned to bring thesolid portions of the rings in alignment wit-lithe projections on thebolt and to unlock the bolt it is then necessary. to turn the sleevesback .to the proper point to again align the grooves in the rings witheach other and with the projections and ribs,the point to which thesesleeves are turned being determined by the combination. It should beexplained that the'ibolt 7 is provided at, each end with a stop 7 one orboth of which may be removable and that when the bolt is at its extremeupper or lower position as determined by these stops, the intermediateand lower rings'and the grooved portion of the upper ring will be inalignment with the spaces between the projections and ribs of the boltso that the sleeves and their rings may be turned about the bolt for thepurpose of looking .or unlocking the same. In addition to the groove 15in each of the rings. these rings are also provided with a'seriesot'equal'ly spaced shallow recesses 9 on both their upper andlower edges, nine in number, which, with the grooves 15 correspond tothe indications on the sleeves 8i Thesenotches or recesses 9 are for thepurpose of foolers to prevent the finding of the groove 15 by the slightup and down movement allowed by the bolt when in locked position. Inorder that the notches maybe more effective for the purpose, they aremade of varying depths as shown more clearly in 11', so that it will beimpossible by delicate touch to determine when the groove 15 has beenbrought to the required unlocking'position. In order to furth'er providefor preventing theunlocking'ofthe mechanism without the propercombination, thereis formed in'the interiorwall of each ring member 9',in line with the respective notches 9 ,"a series of shallow grooves9,thes'e grooves extending from the lowernotches to the upper" notchesand being preferably. about one-third the depth ofthe g roove 15. By theemployment of these shallow grooves, "it will be impossible to detectthe locationof the deep groo i ve l5 by: anyfimperfection on the. sur-Ql thQlbQk -Il bel In 'ord'erto se'tthe combination, assuming .that t-he combination. is 9 5 1,'thefpifi"oir"the 'upper'rin'g'willhave beenplacedfin the'openie l3. roppgs te th ndi tid tlotits sleeve,

the pin on the intermediate ring will have been placed in the opening 13opposite the indication of its sleeve, and the pin on the lower ringwill have been placed in the opening opposite the indication 1 of itssleeve. By then turning all the sleeves so as to read 9 5 1 downwardly,all the grooves will be aligned with each other and also with theprojections and ribs on the bolt, thus unlocking the bolt. Thecombination can be changed at any time by removing the sleeves andchanging the position of the rings with respect thereto. If desired thepins of the rings may be placed in an open ing intermediate any twoindications on the sleeves so that half numbers may be secured in thecombination, and that is the reason why twenty of the openings 13 areprovided.

By the arrangement shown, it will be seen that it will be impossible toremove the sealing plate 6 to obtain access to the clamping screws 5because of the location of the locking mechanism in close proximitythereto and because of the U-shaped form of the plate, as in order toremove the plate the sides 6 thereof must clear the walls of theclamping member 2.

In Figs. 1 and 2, the clamping member 1 is shown provided with insertedpointed pins 1*, the pointed ends of which project slightly on theinterior thereof so as to impinge or dig into the steering post andprevent the clamp being hammered down on the post to an extent to unlockthe wheel. In Fig. 1, there is also shown in dotted lines two hardenedpins which are inserted into each of the ears 2" to prevent the earsfrom being sawed off. It might also be stated that the bolt is ofhardened steel as is also the sealing plate 6.

By the construction described it will be seen that a permutation lockingmechanism is provided which may be readily removed from its supports forthe purpose indicated also a mechanism which may be readily unlocked bythe operator without the necessity of visually inspecting theindications on the rotatable sleeves which enables the steering wheel tobe readily unlocked at night, and also a mechanism in which theunlocking thereof would be extremely ditlicult without the propercombination.

Having thus described my invention, I claim I In a lock, thecombination, with aligned members, of a bolt, a series of alignedprojections on said bolt, a series of sleeves about said bolt, eachsleeve having an inner notched ring rotatable therewith, each sleevebeing also provided with a series of exteriorly arranged concavednotches, one of said notches having a straight side, and a series ofspring clicker fingers co-operating with said concaved notches, thestraight sided groove of each sleeve co-operating with its correspondingclicker finger to form a stop for said sleeve, for the purposespecitied.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 16th day of July,1920.

' JOHN PFEIFER. Witness:

CHAS. I. WELOH.

